


Together

by glow_worm



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Drabble, F/M, Protective Siblings, Temporary Character Death, The Stolen Century
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22403782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glow_worm/pseuds/glow_worm
Summary: The hunger is here; Taako tries to buy Lup and Barry a little time.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Kudos: 37





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> The cycle immediately after Legato! Enjoy.

“Taako—get her out of here and go!” Barry shouted, casting a wall of fire a few feet ahead of himself. “I’ll hold it off, go!”

The Hunger was here. They had not found the Light of Creation this cycle. Merle was gone; destroyed once again by the being he called John. Davenport, Magnus, and Lucretia were presumably already aboard the Starblaster.

Huge black columns with cracks of color leaked down from the sky. Dark tendrils threatened Barry, creeping towards him and not dissuaded much by the flames.

Taako nodded, grabbing his sister’s wrist with one hand while holding on to his hat with the other. He tried to pull her along as he began to sprint forward, but she was dead weight, stopped in her tracks.

He looked back at her, but she was facing Barry. He tugged again at her arm.

“We gotta go!” Taako said urgently. “Come on!”

But Lup did not move.

“I’m not leaving him,” she said, speaking over the various sounds of the earth breaking and structures crashing.

“What?” Taako exclaimed. “That’s stupid! He’s gonna be back in literally ten minutes, let’s go!”

He pulled at her a third time, but again Lup stood her ground. Embers and debris fell around them both. Barry shot another spell at the Hunger, then shouted again at the twins.

“Just go!” Barry yelled. “I’ll see you later!”

“Lup,” Taako pressed. “We’re running out of time!”

Lup turned around and pleadingly looked into her brother’s eyes.

“I love him,” she said.

Taako searched his sister’s face, his mouth open slightly. He knew she loved Barry. It was not news. It had been clear for well over a decade—Taako thought that he knew perhaps before Lup or Barry did. This was, however, the first time she said it out loud to her brother.

He let go, and threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Can’t say no to that!” Taako acquiesced.

Lup nodded, her eyes sparkling with determination, then turned and ran back to her love.

Taako pivoted, ready to make a break for the ship, but a feeling he could not name held him back.

“Lup,” Barry breathed. He could no longer stand, and was bleeding profusely from various wounds caused by the Hunger. “You don’t have to do this. Go back with Taako, I’ll cover you and I will be back on the ship in ten minutes.”

Lup knelt down next to him, flinging out a spell with her wand as she lowered herself. She cradled his face with her free hand, and he leaned in to her touch with a weary smile.

“I thought we agreed,” Lup said. “From now on, we do this together.”

A loud crash thundered from above, and Lup threw one arm in front of Barry, pushing him back slightly, with the other pointing her wand skyward. Before she could cast anything, however, the tendril that was hurdling toward them was thwarted by an array of different tendrils that Lup recognized as the spell Evard’s Black Tentacles.

Lup looked back to her brother, whose wand was aimed at the Hunger. She was surprised he was still there.

“Taako?” Lup called. “You can go back—it’s okay!”

Taako shrugged and fired off another spell. “Forget it, I’ll never get there in time. Get a message to the others, then you crazy kids have fun. I’ve got this!”

Lup nodded, and cast Sending to tell the crew on the Starblaster not to wait for them.

Barry gently caressed her face, and she smiled.

“That was my last spell,” Lup remarked. She dropped her wand and placed a hand against one of Barry’s, then ran her other hand through his hair.

He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips as the ground beneath them began to crack, reality falling apart. For a moment, nothing else mattered.

Taako did what he could to give them a little time. He took a pretty big hit and bit his tongue to keep from crying out. Before everything went black, he caught a glimpse of the Starblaster weaving around the tendrils before disappearing completely.

He breathed a sigh of relief, casting one last spell before the darkness overtook him.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and come say hi at glow-worm.tumblr.com!


End file.
